This is a fictional story dealing with love and consensual sexual activities between males. If you are not of legal age, reside in an area where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now.

The author retains all rights to this story. No reproductions or links to other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.

Note: I owe a special thanks to Robb for doing the final proofreading and catching all those silly little errors I missed.

If you like the story, I'd appreciate hearing from you.  Send your comments to Jeff Allen (jeff_allen15@hotmail.com).

He stood at the front of the car pointing a pistol at us. My eyes focused first on the gun that would end our lives. It looks huge. I forced myself to look away from the gun and up to the face of the man who had just killed Mac and would soon kill us.

The look on Sheriff Endicott Hardee's face was hard. "You boys have sure been lucky so far, but it looks like your luck's about run out."

I found my voice. It sounded amazingly calm. "How are you going to explain this one, Sheriff?"

"Oh, I got this one all figured out. This here gun can't be traced back to me. Once I'm done with you two faggots, I'll put it in the dead hand of that screw-up Allman and get rid of his gun. Then I'll go get my car, come back in the drive here, and just happen on this awful scene. It'll look like Allman killed you two, and then he and Campbell shot it out over by the shed. No one will ever know."

I heard a truck motor in the driveway. Hardee heard it also, and looked toward the sound. I grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at his face just like in the movies.

Well, that always worked in the movies, but it didn't work in real life. Hardee reacted and moved out of the way, but he did move the gun away from Luis and me to point it toward the advancing vehicle.

I shoved Luis and we scrambled around the side of the car to relative shelter behind the trunk.

I looked down the driveway to the sound of the oncoming vehicle. It was a vision from some comic version of Hell.

Juanita Stout was behind the wheel of their old pickup. The faded and dented old truck bounced down the driveway as she rapidly advanced toward us. Juanita's face was a mask of pure fury. It dawned on me that she was aiming the truck at the sheriff. Alton sat beside her in the passenger's seat. Whereas Juanita's face reflected white hot anger, Alton's had a look of shear terror. Under normal circumstances, Juanita was such a terrible driver that Alton always tried to avoid riding with her. On those rare occasions when he did sit in the passenger's seat he wore an expression of deep concern as he worried about Juanita hitting something. To be in the truck with Juanita when she was actually aiming at something must have been terrifying.

Hardee started firing his pistol at the truck as he stepped back putting Mac's crown vic between him and the menace of Juanita's truck. One shot hit the radiator of the truck. A cloud of dense steam rose from the punctured radiator.

With Hardee's attention focused on Juanita's advancing pickup, Luis and I sprinted away from the crown vic and headed up the other side of the driveway toward the road.

I heard the crunch of the pickup hitting the left front fender of the crown vic and turned back to look.

The truck had spun around facing back up the driveway. Mac's crown vic was pushed over to the side. It would need a new fender and hood before it went back into service.

I located Hardee. He was on the other side of the patrol car picking himself up out of the dirt.

Through the steam from the broken radiator, I could see the forms of Juanita and Alton slumped against the truck's dashboard. I couldn't tell if they were seriously hurt or just stunned. They weren't moving.

Hardee was on his feet and advancing toward the pickup. The Stouts were sitting ducks.

I called out. "Hardee, we're the ones you want. Leave them alone."

He brandished the gun at us. "You and that trouble-making wetback get back here. I'm going to finish this once and for all!"

Hardee raised his pistol. Like a damn fool I was standing right in the middle of the road. I could only hope he was a poor shot.

I heard the sound of the shot, but there wasn't any smoke from Hardee's gun. With a look of stunned disbelief on his face, Hardee started turning toward the corral. There was a second shot, and Hardee simply dropped to the ground.

Where had the two shots come from?

I ran toward the fallen form of the sheriff with Luis at my heels. When we got up to the truck, Juanita and Alton were beginning to move. My eye caught movement in the corral.

Mac!

He was sitting propped up against the side of the shelter. He was alive!

Forgetting everything else, Luis and I ran over to our lover.

There was a hole in his uniform shirt just above and to the center of his right nipple. But there was no blood!

"Mac! We thought you were dead! Hardee shot you!"

"Yeah, he hit me. I was afraid they might be waiting for us somewhere so I put on a Kelvar vest. I think it just knocked the wind out of me, but, man, it feels like I've been kicked by a horse. I'll be okay. Go check on Alton and Juanita, and call 911."

Talk about deja vu. For the second time in as many days, Luis and I found ourselves surrounded by police and paramedics.

Hardee and Allman were dead.

At first the cops had a hard time with the idea that Sheriff Hardee was the bad guy. Fortunately Napier showed up soon after the first couple of patrol cars. He wasn't surprised about the Sheriff's involvement. Seems that Napier had suspected that the coyotes had been getting inside information. He'd been suspicious of Hardee for a couple of weeks before the massacre on my ranch. He managed to convince the troop of sheriff's deputies on the scene that Luis, Mac, and I were the good guys.

Juanita and Alton were just shaken and bruised by the crash of their pickup. They were patched up by the paramedics and then driven home by one of the sheriff's deputies. Alton kept muttering things like..."never going to get in a vehicle with that damn fool woman again."

The paramedics were most concerned about Mac. He complained of a lot of soreness in his chest. They bundled him up in the ambulance and took him to Santa Teresa County Hospital.

It was well after noon by the time Allman's and Hardee's bodies had been taken away by the coroner. The crime scene technicians were almost done with their work, and most of the Sheriff's Deputies had returned to their patrols. Napier had remained throughout the entire process. He had only exchanged a few words with Luis and I the entire time. Finally he came over to us.

"Mr. Nichols, Señor Ebanez, I think the three of us need to have a little talk."

I nodded stiffly. Luis looked resigned.

"I don't think the two of you have given me the entire story here. Why do you suppose Endicott Hardee came out here to try to kill you?"

I decided to give it a shot. After all, Luis and I had nothing to lose. "I really don't know. I can only guess that after Luis was able to remember seeing Allman and Alvarez together that Allman pressured Hardee to help try to kill us. Hardee knew that we were heading to San Diego because I'd told him so over the phone. He must have told Allman. That's how Allman knew where to find us and put the bomb in my truck. Mac told us this morning that Hardee was really worked up yesterday after the bombing. He kept trying to find out where we were. Mac finally told him we were here. That must be how they knew to come out here this morning."

"I don't thinks that's all of it."

"What do you mean?"

He looked at Luis. "I think you actually saw Hardee and the two coyotes together. Ole Endicott Hardee never cared about any ass except his own. He wouldn't have gone out on the limb and actually been involved in trying to kill you unless you could connect him with the other two scum bags."

Luis remained silent. I spoke up again. "There's no way you could prove that."

"You're right. But I still think Ebanez here...if that's really your name...saw the three of them together. Now we know that someone walked away from the massacre. Hardee pushed the theory that it was another one of the bad guys that walked away, but I never bought that. I always figured that it was one of the illegals, and the lucky son of a bitch somehow wasn't shot with the rest of them and managed to walk away."

"You're accusing Luis of being an illegal alien."

"Damn right."

"Come on, Napier. You've seen his driver's license. Juanita Stout even told you he's her nephew for crips sake."

"I admit that license is darn good. I couldn't figure out how he got it so quickly. Then I had the guys back in Texas run a check. They turned up an obituary for a Manuel Luis Ebanez from a couple of years ago."

"Ebanez is a common name."

"Yup, but we could always get a copy of the birth certificate and compare prints. If Luis is who you say he is, then the prints will match."

We were caught. "Y...yes, I guess you could do that."

"Yup. I sure could." Napier's mouth twisted into something like a smile. "You know what. I'm going to be damn busy for the next few days doing all the paperwork for this here shooting. You can't believe the forms I'm going to have to fill out to tie Hardee, Allman, and Perez together. Yessiree, I be too damn busy to fill out the paper work to get a look at Ebanez's birth certificate. I'll have to remember to do that when all of this other stuff is settled."

He paused. Luis and I were sweating bullets. "Oops, I forgot. I've got a couple of weeks of weeks of vacation time coming that I'm gonna take as soon as I get all this Hardee mess cleared up. I'll have to remember to check the prints when I get back from vacation. Problem is, I just know there'll be a whole piss pot full of new cases to work on as soon as I get back. Guess I don't rightly know if I'll ever get around to filling out a request for those prints."

He reached out and shook Luis's hand. "You're a brave man. Thanks for your help."

He shook my hand. "Loyal friends are a wonderful blessing. I think you two need to get into town to check on Deputy Campbell at the hospital."

Without another word or even a glance in our direction, Napier turned, walked to his car, and drove off.

The Kelvar vest had saved his life, but the bullet from Hardee's gun still broke one rib and cracked two others. They kept him in the hospital overnight. When Mac got out of the hospital, we all moved back to Rancho del Abuelo. My insurance agent found a construction crew that was able to start the reconstruction of the barn that next week.

Ribs take a long time to heal. Poor Mac couldn't cough or laugh without hurting for several weeks. For the first two weeks, he could barely lift himself out of a sitting position without wincing in pain. Believe me, it really put a cramp in our love making. The poor baby had to just lie there on the bed while Luis and I took care of him. Actually, I think the son of a gun enjoyed it! I know Luis and I did.

Mac had been on sick leave from the Sheriff's Department since the shooting. He finally thought his ribs were healed enough to go back on duty. Luis and I agreed that he was almost completely healed. Not only was he able to ride his horse again, but he was able to ride both Luis and me or be ridden by one of us during our bedtime activities.

Luis packed a meal for us. We carried our gear out to the new barn, saddled up Sam, Blaze, and Nina the tan colored quarter horse we'd purchased for Luis, and headed out toward the bluff where I'd taken Mac so many weeks earlier.

At the bluff, we hobbled the horses, spread a blanket and lay down together to enjoy the view and Luis' fine picnic.

We sat together and watched the sun set behind the hills. I don't know when I've known a greater sense of inner peace than at that moment. Mac was sitting on my left with his arm stretched over both my shoulders and Luis'. Luis had his head against my right shoulder and his hand was gently running up and down my inner thigh creating a semi erection that pressed against the crotch of my jeans. I ran my hand over the front of Mac's jeans. He was already hard.

Luis stood up. "Amores, the sun is down and it is time to make love, no?" He began to unbutton his shirt. Even in the gathering twilight, the golden color of the skin of his chest caused my dick to jump.

Mac jumped to his feet and began pulling off his boots. "The sun is down and it is time to make love, yes!"

Despite our hurry to get naked, we were incredibly tender with each other when we lay back down on the blanket. The beauty of the sunset stayed with us. Our touches were at times soft, almost feather light. At other times urgent and hard. All three of us focused on bring pleasure to our lovers and communicating our deep love.

Luis took charge, as he did so often. He spread lube over Mac's and my hard cocks. He gently pushed Mac down to lie on his back on the blanket and then slowly lowered himself onto Mac's rampant weapon. He reached back and grasped my hand pulling me onto his back. I kissed his neck as Mac kissed his lips.

I felt Luis' hand on my cock. I didn't realize what he wanted at first. When I did, I whispered, "Are you sure?"

"Sí. Do it."

I found his entrance, already filled with Mac's cock, and slowly pushed in. Luis tensed at first but then relaxed. I pulled back and then slid forward. Incredible! The underside of my dick moved against Mac's rod while I felt the hot velvet lining of Luis' rectum with the top and head.

Mac moaned. "Go slow or this won't last very long."

I took my time moving in and out. Because Luis was so much smaller than either Mac or me, I was able to lean over his back and kiss both my lovers at the same time. I think all of us could have stayed like that forever, but our orgasms built even as I tried to go as slowly as possible.

Luis came first. His kiss became more intense. Then his ass muscles spasmed around our cocks as his seed spilled between his and Mac's bodies. That sent Mac over the edge. I felt his dick expand. I could feel the cum moving up his urethra to explode in Luis' rectum. That was all the stimulation I needed to reach my own heart-stopping climax, and my jizz mixed with Mac's inside Luis.

Later we lay cuddled together under the blanket. Mac and Luis were asleep, and I was close. In the distance I heard the low far away rumble of thunder in the night. I smiled to myself and joined my lovers in sleep.

The End